Though Hopkins is the Guardian’s defence and security correspondent, the report was placed on the Life Style page of their site:

The odd placement notwithstanding, Hopkins’ piece represents something of a first for the Guardian: an entirely positive take on Israeli society, reporting on gender equality in the IDF – relative parity between men and women serving in Israel’s armed forces which other nations’ militaries are trying to emulate.

Indeed, there were some passages which were not only completely free the Guardian’s institutional bias against the Jewish state, but actually were indistinguishable from what would be written in pro-Israel blogs. Here’s an example.

“Though the Israeli military has a very macho image, the IDF is the most progressive in the world – when measured in terms of at least. Almost one-third of the force and 50% of its officers are female. In the UK, only 13% of the armed forces are women, while there are only slightly more in the US army (13.4%).” [emphasis added]

Yes, that was really written in the Guardian!

Hopkins’ praise of Israel’s progressive prowess continues:

“The British military is one of several around the world that has sought advice from the IDF on equality, though the UK is unlikely to catch up in the short term, despite recent efforts to do so.”

Of course, none of this is new to those of us familiar with the rights afforded women (and gays) in the IDF, but I never thought I’d live to see the day when the Guardian’s “purity of ideology” would ever allow for such journalistic “treif” – unvarnished truth about Israel’s undeniably progressive nature.

Hopkins continues:

“There are laws that demand women must be recruited to the IDF, and a series of legal challenges have shattered barriers to what they can do thereafter. The process started in 1949 with a law that demanded equality in the IDF – and 92% of roles in service are now open to women…Women now regularly serve in anti-aircraft brigades, in the artillery, and as fighter pilots.”

Again, contrasting the IDF with the British Armed Forces, Hopkins notes:

“In the UK, women remain banned from small units in the frontline because of fears that, in the heat of a battle, male colleagues may seek to look after them, rather than concentrate on fighting.”

We hope, of course, that the UK will continue to look to Israel for guidance regarding other gender equality issues and, further, that the Guardian uses this report as a teachable moment for their staff, thus ushering in a new Guardian era of (CP Scott-inspired) Zionist advocacy, and philo-Semitic commentary.

Strange how certain CiF posters go on about GIYUS etc. but never comment on the similarity between a good few anti-Israel posts (I’m thinking in particular of “sickening”, “hideous” and “war crimes”), innit?

Adam, I can’t wait to see the torrent of hate unleashed by the usual crowd at this outlier piece which I’m sure they will perceive as a great treachery on the part of Jews embedded in the Guardian’s staff somehow.

Now that the G. has noticed other western militaries learning gender equality from the IDF, they’ll perhaps start to notice something else other western militaries have been learning from the IDF, i.e., how you limit enemy civilian casualties in war.

You have really stirred things up with this. Its interesting to see how many of the Israel-bashers zoom over to CW to get the real scoop on CiF, then go back to moaning about CW on CiF!!! The comments are full of indignant references to this article!!

I just checked out comments on the Guardian website, and many here will be surprised to know we’re all involved in a coordinated CiF Watch conspiracy to infiltrate and disseminate “hasbara” in their comments section, according to one of the commenters.

The Guardian has created a petri dish of sorts for all the Jew haters to congregate, and one article that provides a more favorable picture of Israel won’t reverse that. However, it is noteworthy that at least for a moment someone writing at the Guardian has steered clear of demonising Israel. Nobody is expecting anything beyond this one-off, but it’s still refreshing to observe.

I did not bother reading the article as I already knew how drooling it would be in its illustration of a tiny aspect of life for women in the IDF. But I bet if you ask the people who bear the brunt of the IDF’s numerous offensives as was witnessed in Gaza etc, you’ll get a different view. But I guess you know that. You can’t be a nice person to ask to dinner.